China: over a 1.2 million internally displaced by disasters since end June

Norwegian Refugee Council/Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (NRC/IDMC), China: over a 1.2 million internally displaced by disasters since end June
, 25 July 2012, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/501152b92.html [accessed 3 August 2015]

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In just under two months, over 1.2 million of people have been internally displaced due to earthquakes, floods and storms in China. Since 2008, China is recorded as being the country with the highest number of people displaced by disasters, with 4.5 million internally displaced in 2011 alone.

On June 24th a shallow, 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck Lijiang in Yunnan Province and Liangshan in Sichuan Province in southwest China affecting 71,000 people. Over 4,280 houseswere destroyed and 22,000 people were evacuated. Six days later, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake hit northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, followed by several aftershocks. Government authorities in Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture report 48,000 people were evacuated, 7,500 houses destroyed, and 64,000 houses damaged. Since then, widespread floods and storms have forced the evacuation of a further 1.17 million people and destroyed 66,000 homes in central, southern and southwestern provinces, as well as in Shaanxi Province and Inner Mongolia in the northwest.

Beijing is the latest areas to be severely affected by floods. As of 22 July, more than 65,000 people had to be evacuated and Beijing officials said 37 people had died, 25 of them from drowning. Some people have used the internet to protest against the lack of warning and poor drainage systems in the capital. in Syria since the beginning of 2012.